Washington: A new study has examined that diseases in later life can be prevented if one maintains a healthy heart when one is young.
The study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014 spanned more than three decades.
Participants who were at low risk for heart and blood vessel disease when young adults were 60 percent less likely to report disability as older adults and to determine risk level, researchers used blood pressure, cholesterol and body mass index measurements, as well as diabetes and smoking status.
Thanh Huyen T. Vu, M.D., Ph.D., study lead author and research assistant professor at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, said that people should adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle at all ages and it was important that healthcare providers promote a healthy lifestyle early in life for their patients, as healthy lifestyle had been shown to be associated with favorable levels of cardiovascular disease risk factors.
Researchers correlated data from 3,669 men and 2,345 women from The Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry with the participants' later responses to a 2003 health survey about functional disability and quality of life. Participants were aged 29-68 when the study began in 1967 to 1973.
